Ride Buddies was a pilot program to help residents and employees in Downtown Columbus replace their work-related car trips with bike trips—and become hardcore badasses in the process.

I’m so glad I had the option to have this experience … I know it’s something a lot of people desire but don’t have the option to do. Surely, they are missing out ...

In summer 2015, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) contracted with Yay Bikes! to implement a Downtown Modal Shift Pilot Program aimed at helping downtown-area residents and employees replace work-related car trips with bicycle trips. The program, which became known as "Ride Buddies", offered our targeted employers information sessions, custom promotional content and topical online content to help them promote bicycling. It offered custom rides—either a to/from work commute, CoGo tour or professional development experience—to any individual or small group exploring the possibility of bike commuting. These featured the following:

An expert Ride Buddy to lead the ride, impart road rules and answer questions

At least one route planned specifically by the Ride Buddy, based on a participant's origination/destination and vice versa, as well as their concerns, goals and preferences

Information about how to link bike riding with other modes to make an active commute more manageable (e.g., Park & Pedal locations and COTA buses)

Advice regarding equipment and gear, and other bike commuting basics

Follow up communications with resources relevant to participants' stated interests

In total, 76 people took advantage of the Ride Buddies program. During the 2-month pilot, we conducted 44 rides—30 with individuals and 14 with small groups. Of those:

17 people rode ‘real’ and 7 rode practice commutes to and/or from work

19 people rode from work to a lunch or meeting site

23 people had professional development experiences organized by a supervisor

10 people rode non-work trips (e.g., to explore a neighborhood or shop for a bike)

A crew from Columbus State Community College explore their Near East Side neighborhood!

It was altogether 1000 times better than I thought it would be. I conquered a fear and feel more comfortable.

The Ride Buddies pilot was rigorously evaluated using the following tools:

Employer baseline survey—We sent an extensive pre-intervention survey about bike commuting attitudes and habits to employees of 10 Downtown-area employers, and received a statistically valid responses from each. Our post-intervention survey was abandoned when it became clear our impact would be less tied to specific employers than expected.

Employer inventories—We conducted four interviews with Downtown-area employers regarding their support for bicycle commuting, and completed reports for each. Two employers were inspired by this process to apply for League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Business program. One employer received that recognition and the other's application is pending.

Pre-ride surveys: 88.2% of riders completed a survey about their experience riding a bicycle for transportation as part of their online ride registration process.

Immediate post-ride surveys: 80.3% of riders completed a survey about their experience upon following a link in an email sent shortly following their ride.

6-week post-ride follow up surveys: 57.9% of riders completed a survey about their post-ride behavior upon following a link in an email sent several weeks following their ride.

Riding with a Buddy can be what makes all the difference.

I’ve been wanting to start riding, but have been nervous about not knowing what the hell I’m doing. I’m very grateful for this opportunity!

Here's what we learned about the motivations of those who participated in our Ride Buddies program:

People want to ride but feel scared and confused. When asked about the barriers preventing registrants from riding a bicycle for work-related trips, 50.8% of registrants cited safety concerns and 28.8% cited not knowing how to ride in traffic.

A free Ride Buddy can be the catalyst that helps people make a change.When asked why they chose this moment to learn more about riding a bicycle for work-related trips, 59.3% of registrants said because they were offered a free Ride Buddy to help them take it on (followed distantly by 27.1% who said they’d recently committed themselves to a lifestyle overhaul).

Relationships, not mass media, generated participation; workplace champions are critical allies in this work. Fully 63.2% of participants were invited by a co-worker, while 25.0% were invited by someone they knew from Yay Bikes!

A workplace champion at Ohio Board of Regents scheduled several rides for coworkers, and caused a significant shift in office culture as a result.

Commuting is a habit that I do easily by bike. Errands, however, I do not habitually do by bike and I realize there are some I can conveniently accomplish by pedaling.

Here's what we learned about Ride Buddies' impact on mode shift:

A Ride Buddies experience helps people replace car trips with bike trips. Immediately post-ride, a majority of participants (68.9%) said they were "Very likely" to repeat their ride or a similar journey on their own. More than half of those who responded to the six-week followup survey (52.3%) actually had replaced at least one car trip with a bike trip—and, of those, 96% replaced more than one. Nearly everyone who replaced a car trip with a bike trip (91.3%) felt "Completely!" or almost completely prepared for what they encountered.

Riding to several bike shops helped one participant overcome her two major hurdles to riding: not knowing the road rules and not having a bike!

Being confident about taking space in the lane has made me feel safer than I did when I rode way over on the right.

Here's what we learned about Ride Buddies' impact on participants' bicycling knowledge and practice:

The Ride Buddies experience significantly changes how participants ride. Six weeks post-ride, 82.0% of participants said Ride Buddies had "Completely!" or almost completely influenced how they rode a bike, with the key changes being that they don't ride as far to the right (68.2%) and they are more likely to take the lane than before (61.4%).

The Ride Buddies experience significantly improves a key indicator of participants' bike knowledge.When asked to say whether the statement "Bicyclists can always choose to ride in the center of a lane, regardless of traffic conditions.” is true or false, 79.5% of Ride Buddy participants correctly said true, as opposed to 36.1% of the non-participants from our employer baseline survey.

Bricker and Eckler employees rode in from the new Park & Pedal location at Dodge Park.

The following weeks people approached me to say that they saw me riding and were impressed by my confidence on the road, and that they would like to experience the same thing. Their comments opened the door to me talking to them about bike riding and its advantages.

Here's what we learned about Ride Buddies' viral impact:

The impact of a Ride Buddies experience extends far beyond participants. Almost all Ride Buddy participants (95.5%) shared what they learned with others—on average each shared with 3–5 others! Specifically, they shared about proper lane positioning (69.0%), how the experience was different than expected (66.7%), how it made them feel (61.9%) and bicycle traffic law (59.5%).

COTA and Ride Buddies: a Dream Team if we ever saw one!

So what's the bottom line here? We think it's that significant mode shift can occur via meaningful interactions lasting just two hours or less. With the key here being "meaningful interactions"! It's not enough to throw up a billboard or hand out brochures. If we want to create real change in how people get from here to there, it will require a sufficient investment in people that they feel supported in adopting a new, more active way of life. Because it's hard to undertake all that much change all by yourself, and sometimes you just need a little help from a friend (or, uh, make that a Buddy! ;)!

The Ride Buddy program is not currently being offered; we are seeking funding to offer it in the future, and will promote that opportunity when it becomes available.